#but when i set the values to zero it didn't do this

[dravidious]

You're really really neat

I've been practicing the dark magic of computer graphics today! Unfortunately for my hubris I've been struck with the curse of the shadow crystal

[chongoblog]

HOW TO READ BINARY MESSAGES

Hey there all you gamers out there! Have you ever seen a bunch of ones and zeroes in a television show and wondered "Huh. I wonder if this binary here is some sort of Secret Code?" and instead of googling it, you wanted to try to figure it out yourself? Well I know how to do that, and people always go "WHOA" when I tell them that, and I figured I would teach you all as well!

Now just a warning ahead of time, translating binary yourself will take some time and require a little bit of math, so don't say I didn't warn you.

So let's take a binary string like this frame from the Gravity Falls episode "Soos and The Real Girl" (which, spoilers, IS a secret message)

So the first thing you're gonna want to do is divide the binary into groups of 8. If it is a secret message, then each group of 8 bits will represent as ASCII value (or, for the sake of this explanation, letters). So let's divide them up.

That gives us: 01010011, 01010000, 01000001, 01000011, 01000101, 01001010, 01000001, 01001101, 01010100, 01010111, and 01001111. Now, you might have noticed that all of these binary strings have something in common. They all start with "010"! That's gonna be your first tell that you've got a secret message on your hands. Every letter in ASCII starts with either 010 or 011 for lowercase letters. So if you see the groups don't start with either of those, then it's just random gibberish binary that someone just keysmashed 1 and 0 for. So now we know we have a message, so we can begin translating. And to show off how that works, we're going to translate the first set together!

The way binary works is that each digit from the right to the left represents a power of 2. The farthest right digit represents 1. The second to last digit represents 2. The third to last digit is 4. Then 8. Then 16. When reading more complex binary stuff, you go further than that, but for reading ASCII letters, we only use 5 digits. For each of those digits, if the digit is 1, then you add the value that the digit represents. If it's 0, then you don't. From there, you add up the numbers you've got, and then run the sum through the handy dandy a1z26 cipher (A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, and so on)

So again, let's have a look at that first string: 01010011

And there you go! Now you just need to repeat this for every letter! It sounds harrowing at first, but over time you get the hang of it to the point where you can do it in your head. Feel free to give is a shot yourself and decode the rest of the message from the Gravity Falls episode

Now obviously there are a few exceptions. For example if you have a number or punctuation it will start with "001", and from there translating a number from 0 to 9 is easy since it's the same thing but without the A1Z26 cipher, but with punctuation you have to remember specific values, which is a pain in the ass, but if you're translating a decoded message, you don't really need to know the punctuation.

And that should do it! Hope you enjoyed this little explanation.

[syrma-sensei]

hey! do you take soldier boy requests? if you do, then i have a little prompt! i can totally see this dynamic with ben x reader. ignore this if you like, i'm just curious because i love your writing !!

Heya 👋🏻

Of course I do! I love writing my man 🤭❤️

Hehehe, I can totally see it too. I almost wrote it in Home, but you know, couldn't let that happen cuz reader was pregnant and all...

Thank you so much, lovey 💕 You're in for a treat!

→ Smokey Snuggles, Zero Struggles.

gif credit.

Pairing: Soldier Boy x Fem!reader.

Rating: Fluff.

Word Count: 1.1k

Warnings: Pillow talk, smoking, implied smut, soft Ben, flufffff, antiquated mentality...

Setting: Prequel to Home one-shot; can be read as a standalone tho.

Ben swept his large arm over your body to pull you closer to his chest, his rough yet gentle hand resting on your thigh. Your body curled up to his as your chest heaved with soft pants, up and down, while his seed seeped out of your opening.

“Mmm, did I tucker you out, dollface?” He teased with that deep voice of his; you could hear the smirk in his tone.

“Not at all...” You shifted your head up, chin resting on his chest and eyes gazing up at him with playful intransigence.

He glanced down at you, relishing in the way your pretty fingers ran on his chest. “Good, ‘cause I was just getting started.”

Your lips let out a sheepish giggle concurring with a cute red smear across your cheeks.

It was still all new to you; the sex, the extravagant self-indulgence, the supe business, Vought, and him.

You'd met Ben in one of his educational tours throughout the country. He'd been on an awareness campaign spree, visiting local schools to sow the American values into the hearts of the young. Needless to say, the children were thrilled having the first superhero in their classrooms, sitting and reading for them — making them laugh even. The bastard had an alluring charm; everyone had been in love with him, and you were none the better. His damn swagger had a certain lure, it didn't take long to coax you out of the skirts of modesty into the lusciousness of his arms.

You were a new elementary teacher, a young woman brought up in a conservative household; it was inevitable to have a blatant shock when you entered Ben's life as his new partner, and intended to be wife-to-be — he didn't propose or promise you anything yet, mind you. Yet, him having family dinners with your parents, you moving in with him, him having you at his arm wherever he went; movie premieres, filmmaking, photoshoots, interviews, and more, he literally had you stuck to his hip. That had to mean something, right?

You tried to shrug off the thoughts that plagued your mind of the possibility of Ben dumping you. You shiver at the thought. The truth was, you were head over heels with him, and you honestly didn't know where you'd put yourself if he left you.

You felt him flex the arm he had on your thigh up behind his head, then you heard the flick of his lighter and soon the smell of burnt tobacco followed.

You glanced up at him. Ben's green eyes were staring ahead, the look on his face told you he was deep in ponderation. He absently inhaled from his cuban cigar.

The tip of your forefinger rubs circles on the centre of his chest, stroking the fuzzy wisps on his skin.

You knew he was giving you a break after he had been balls-deep inside of you for a couple of rounds. Ben was nearly insatiable when it came to you, but he always tried to keep himself in check that your human stamina could never match his, regardless of how many times you told him not to hold back.

“No,” He had said, caressing your cheek with the back of his knuckles, “I could break you.”

You smiled with a blush at the memory, snuggling closer to him and letting your ear savour the strong beat of his heart. You really wanted the only one who'd own that heart, you really did.

When you glanced up at him again, he wasn't miles away like he was minutes ago. He was smiling down at you, before he leant in and pressed a light kiss on the crown of your head.

Your cheeks flourished red at the unbridled affection; he seldom showed such, and it never ceased to take you by surprise when he did so. Those moments of sweet dalliances assured you sometimes that you weren't just a fleeting fling.

You wanted to nuzzle closer to him but he shifted a bit to sit up, leaning his back to the headboard. You sit up as well, letting the sheets fall off your naked bosom. You weren't that shy girl anymore.

“Want a drag?” He offered you his cigar.

You smiled, “I-I could try…” You took the cigar as he turned to his bedside table and opened the drawer.

You shrugged and placed the stub between your lips and took a long drag. Wrong move. Because the moment the smouldering smoke hit the back of your throat, your eyes burnt up with tears and you started to cough.

Ben turned to you again, a rich laugh rumbling in his chest, he took the cigar from your hand and placed it in the ashtray, and patted your back gently. “Easy…”

“Holy—!” You croaked, hastily reaching for the glass of water on your bedside table, drinking it. “How do you smoke that shit?” You coughed again.

His laugh diluted into a deep chuckle, “It’s not so bad, you're the lightweight.”

“Oh, believe me, I couldn't handle you if I were one.” You let out a smooth giggle that soon turned into a chortle.

Ben chuckled again, before he wiped the drizzle of water away from the corner of your lips, and the tears away from your eyes.

You grinned at him, kissing his thumb.

“Marry me.” He said, making your eyes go wide. You blinked for a moment.

He read the confusion on your face and acted swiftly by holding a small box of velvet out for you, gently opening it. There was an elegant ring in the box, golden and meticulously-polished, encrusted with a glamorous diamond in its centre.

You opened your mouth then you closed it again; too stunned to find the right words to say.

“I-I don't know what to say.” You finally spoke, voice hushed both by the surprise and the whiff of the cigar from before.

“Say yes.” He grinned, plucking the ring from the box, twirling it deftly between his thumb and forefinger.

Your eyes teared up and you surprised him with a hug, wrapping your arms around his neck.

He seemed to be taken aback by your reaction, but soon enough, he hugged you back, kissing your temple gently.

You found heavenly comfort in his open affections for you, relishing in the silent but blatant fact that they were only yours.

You nuzzled closer to his chest, burying your face in his neck, softly smooching his skin.

“Is that a yes?” He asked, but you could hear the smirk in his voice. Of course, he was teasing you. Typical Ben.

You pulled away, gushing, “Yes!” You sniffled cutely, “God, yes.”

Ben slipped his late mother's wedding ring into your hand before he leant in and kissed your knuckles.

“I love you…” He whispered in your ear, melting your heart with the sincerity of his words.

“I love you too.” You whispered back, “More than anything.”

Taglist: @thebiggerbear, @zepskies, @deanbrainrotwritings, @deansbbyx, @deans-spinster-witch

@venus-haze , @kaleldobrev, @k-slla, @ketchupjasmin, @demodemo909

@mystic-mara, @jqtaro, @pepsicolacoochie...

[deadboyagency]

I didn’t want to have to address this again here but please stop associating Neil Gaiman with Dead Boy Detectives.

Neil Gaiman doesn’t own the copyright or trademarks to Dead Boy Detectives. The IP (intellectual property) was back-shelved from Neil in the early 2000s up until when DC Comics wanted to expand on them (because Neil didn't) so DC Comics hired new writers and create their own series for them starting with Ed Brubaker and Bryan Talbot. All copyright that Neil owns is public knowledge and listed here on the US Goverment Copyright and also shared above.

Neil Gaiman owns SANDMAN. Dead Boy Detectives appeared in ONE ISSUE. Neil owns the Sandman comics. Every time you see his name attached is because they included DEATH and DESPAIR to make a connection to SANDMAN. This was Netflix wanting to attach it to Sandman. The show originally set to air on Max had no attachment to Sandman.

Associating that man with the comics or show now is giving him credit for something he DID NOT CREATE.

Toby Litt and Mark Buckingham created Crystal Palace (who are also the reason why Litty and Kingman are named after them in the show! because it ties into THEIR comics!) 2013-2014 ordered a full comic series written by Toby Litt and Mark Buckingham.

Steve Yockey created Niko, The Cat King, Esther, Monty ect. All of whom are original characters for Dead Boy Detectives The Show. They are all original characters that appear no where else in the comics or story

STEVE YOCKEY OWNS THE IP RIGHTS TO DEAD BOY DETECTIVES NOW. Yes, as in Charles Rowland and Edwin Payne are Steve Yockey’s Dead Boy Detectives. Steve works for Warner Brothers and copyright is under them. Not Netflix, Not Neil. WARNER BROTHERS.

They are Steve's characters, no one else’s. Zack Ogle (Dead Boy Detectives writer) has confirmed this on Twitter, US copyright law has confirms this, Neil himself has also confirmed this.

Netflix canceling the show has nothing to do with Neil. They could easily state that in the articles as they have with other shows who have issues regarding him. There is absolutely ZERO correlation between the two.

Dead Boy Detectives had viewership Netflix didn’t like; that’s it. Netflix's horrific streaming model values only hit shows only and #1’s on their chart are the only thing that matter to them. Baby Reindeer blocked them from getting their #1 and Netflix only cares about that.

Netflix also doesn't care about who they employe. They have been working for years with Dave Chappelle, Steve Blackman and others. Netflix’s CEO Ted Sarandos has defended transphobia from Dave Chappelle and hid details of what was happening on the set of The Umbrella Academy about Steve Blackman's abuse from the public for years.

Dead Boy Detectives was unjustly and unfairly taken from us because Netflix only cares about what hits #1 and could care less about what happens to the cast, crew and writers of the show.

By continuously attaching that man's name to the show you are discrediting the actors, writers and creators of Dead Boy Detectives who deserve the praise for the show and comics they have created for the last 22 years.

[takerfoxx]

Personally, I feel that the reason Suletta and Miorine work so well as a couple is the same reason why they didn't work for me at first: they're just such fundamentally different people, with total opposite personalities, upbringings, values, desires, needs, strengths, weaknesses, traumas, the list goes on. If it weren't for the very strange set of circumstances that forced them to form a connection, I honestly doubt that they would even be friends, so much so that for the first few episodes, I found myself feeling weirdly disconnected from their relationship, and even found myself wondering if they even liked each other.

I mean, take a look at Suletta. She's a country girl from Mercury's mining colonies who never had any friends of her own growing up. She's a clone created in part to replace her older sister, in part to usher in her mother's plan to free her sister, and in part to be a weapon of revenge, leading to an extremely bizarre relationship with her mother that is equal parts affectionate and neglectful. She loves being around people, but is so socially anxious that any sort of interactions sends her into a stuttering fit. She's terrified of confrontation, and yet is larger and stronger than most, and put her behind the controls of a mech, and she will turn you into mincemeat. She's a total klutz when it comes to dealing with other people, and yet stays cool in a crisis and isn't phased by dead bodies. She trusts with her whole heart, measures her relationships by the value she gives to other people, blames herself whenever others let her down, can and will take a life without flinching to protect those close to her, and is delighted by something so simple as having others laugh at a joke that she made.

Now, take Miorine. A rich girl from an extremely powerful family, she lost her mother, quite possibly the only person to ever show her genuine kindness when she was a child, was "raised" by her contemptuous and neglectful excuse for a father, and grew to resent everyone and everything around her. She hates being around people, but has the confidence and social knowledge to play the game. She's tiny and physically weak, but also angry and assertive. She openly loathes her father and will insult him to his face, but also desperately craves his approval. She's been used as a commodity her entire life by people who see her as a stepping stone into power, and is bound and determined to make everyone who tries damned to a living hell. She was raised in luxury in space, but dreams of running away to what is essentially a refugee camp of a planet. She wants so badly to be allowed to stand on her own two feet and be respected for her own accomplishments, but has no real idea how to do it. She views relationships as transactions, has exactly zero patience for other people's nonsense, can and will sacrifice her own happiness for the sake of the select few that she cares about, will run headlong into the most harrowing of political battles, but also fall apart completely when confronted with the reality of death.

And, like I said, for whatever reason I just didn't feel the sparks between them at first. Their whole relationship just felt like a mutually beneficial arrangement, like it was said to be.

But then we got to that magical episode, where they had that amazingly written misunderstanding in the greenhouse, followed by that incredible argument on the space station, and I realized that this was the plan all along, and Suletta and Miorine are actually perfect as a couple...once they've managed to bridge the gap between their extremely different life experiences and massive communication issues.

See, what's so great about them is that while they are extremely different, those difference are also perfectly compatible. One's strength is the other's weakness, and together they make each other better. In a way, they're less opposites and more of two halves of one complete whole. It was Miorine's confidence that allowed Suletta to start standing up for herself, to learn confidence and make real friends, to figure out what love is. And it was Suletta's bravery that inspired Miorine to find a way to make something of her own, to seek out ways to use their families' legacies to help people instead of hurt them, to bridge gaps long carved out by blood. And in the end, they were two desperately lonely girls who just wanted someone to truly, honestly, and unconditionally love them, and they found it in each other.

Granted, it was rough going for a bit. Like I said, they had such different ways of seeing the world, they didn't communicate in the same way, they didn't see relationships in the same way, and they ended up hurting each other just trying to do what they thought was best. But they also forgave one another. They strove to better understand one another. And they came to realize just how much they needed each other. And though it took even greater loss and pain in order to achieve it, they finally found their happy ending. They found each other.

[sasaranurude]

Okay. I've been playing Tokyo Debunker today, since the release happened to catch me on a day when all I'd planned to do was write fanfiction. I just finished reading the game story prologue (it was longer than expected!), so here's a review type post. If you're reading this post not having seen a single thing about this game: it's a story-based joseimuke gacha mobile game that just released globally today. It's about a girl who suddenly finds herself attending a magic school and mingling with elite, superhuman students known as ghouls. If you look in the tumblr tag for the game you'll see what appears to be a completely different game from 2019 or so: they retooled it completely midway through development, changing just about everything about it due to "escalating competition within the gaming industry."

I'll talk about how this looks like a blatant twst clone at the end.

Starting with the positive: The story is charming. I enjoyed it thoroughly the entire time and am excited to read more. The mix between visual novel segments and motion comics was really nice--it broke things up and added a lot of oomph to the action or atmospheric scenes that visual novels generally lack. I like the art in the comic parts a lot. the live2d in the visual novel parts is... passable. Tone-wise, I think the story was a little bit all over the place and would like to see more of the horror that it opened on, but I didn't mind the comedic direction it went in either. The translation is completely seamless. The characters so far all have unique voices and are just super fun and cute. Of the ones who've had larger roles in the story so far, there's not a single one I dislike. It's all fully voiced in Japanese and the acting is solid. (I don't recognize any voices, and can't seem to find any seiyuu credits, so it seems they're not big names, but they deliver nonetheless.) Kaito in particular I found I was laughing at his lines a ton, both the voicing and the writing.

He's looking for a girlfriend btw. Spreading the word.

The problem is like. The gameplay is the worst dark-pattern microtransaction-riddled bullshit I've ever seen. Hundred passive timers going at all times. Fifty different item-currencies. Trying to get you to spend absurd amounts of real world money at every turn. There's like five different indicators that take you to various real-money shop items that I don't know how to dismiss the indicator, I guess you just have to spend money, wtaf. Bajillion different interlocking systems mean you have zero sense of relative value of all the different item-currencies. I did over the course of the day get enough diamonds for one ten-pull, which I haven't used yet. Buying enough diamonds for a ten-pull costs a bit under $60 (presumably USD, but there's a chance the interface is automatically making that CAD for me--not gonna spend the money to check lmfao), with an SSR rate of 1%. BULLSHIIIIIT.

There's like a goddamn thousand-word essay explaining the dozen different types of character upgrades and equippables and equippables for the equippables!! Bad! Bad game design! That's just overcomplicating bullshit to trick people into thinking they're doing something other than clicking button to make number go up! That is not gameplay!

In terms of the actual gameplay, there is none. The battle system is full auto. There might be teambuilding, but from what I've seen so far, most of that consists of hoping you pull good cards from gacha and then clicking button to make number go up. There's occasional rhythm segments but there's no original music, it's just remixes of public domain classical music lmao. I'd describe the rhythm gameplay as "at least more engaging than twisted wonderland's," which is not a high bar

At least there's a cat in the rhythm bit.

And like, ok, I gotta remark on how derivative it is. Like I mentioned in my post earlier, this game is unabashedly aping twisted wonderland's setting and aesthetic. (That said, most of the stuff it steals from twst is magic school stuff that twst also basically stole from Harry Potter, so...?) However, it isn't exactly like twst: in this one, the characters say fuck a lot and bleed all over the place and do violence. Basically, the tone is a fair bit more adult than twst's kid-friendly vibe. (Not, like, adult adult, and I probably wouldn't even call it dark--it's still rated Teen lol. Just more adult than twst.)

Rather than just being students at magic school, the ghouls also go out into the mundane world to go on missions where they fight and investigate monsters and cryptids. Honestly, the magic school setting feels pretty tacked-on. The things that are enjoyable about this would've been just as enjoyable in about any other setting--you can tell this whole aspect was a late trend-chasing addition, lmao. So, yeah, it's blatantly copying twst to try to steal some players, but... Eh, I found myself not caring that much. Someone more (or less) into twst than me may find it grating.

Character-wise, eh, sure, yeah, they're a bit derivative in that aspect too, but it's a joseimuke game, the characters are always derivative. Thus far the writing & execution has been solid enough that I didn't care if they were tropey. If I were to compare it to something else, I'd say the relationship between the protagonist and the ghouls feels more like that of the sage and wizards in mahoyaku than anything from twst. There's some mystery in exactly what "ghouls" are and their place in this world that has me intrigued and wanting to know more about this setting and how each of the characters feels about it. I have a bad habit of getting my hopes up for stories that put big ideas on the table and then being disappointed when they don't follow through in a way that lives up to my expectations, though.

So, my final verdict: I kind of just hope someone uploads all the story segments right onto youtube so nobody has to deal with the dogshit predatory game to get the genuinely decent story lol. Give it a play just for the story if you have faith in your ability to resist dark patterns. Avoid at all costs if you know you're vulnerable to gacha, microtransactions, or timesinks.

[achaotichuman]

Acotar Rant

I actually think Elain being selfish and manipulative is a very interesting character flaw for her. It clashes with what she tries to project which is an image of perfection, loveliness and kindness.

Thing is, she isn't inherently kind. She isn't merciful or innocent. She killed a man with zero hesitation. We have no idea how she even got across the fucking battlefield, you don't think she struggled to get there??? She purposefully set out to murder a man and it didn't so much as affect her later from what we can see. She doesn't show mercy.

When people talk about Elain killing Hybern, no one ever brings up how fucking out of character that would be for her in their version of her. Just, so many people are like "Elain should get credit tooo!!!!" and then their version of Elain is the perfect, kind flower girl who can do no wrong. Like, no, if you want her to get credit you have to acknowledge that was pretty cold-blooded, and its perfectly in character for canon.

Consider how Feyre reacted to killing Hybern soldiers in Summer. She vomited her guts up and felt guilt even though they were the enemy. Elain doesn't so much as bat an eyelash.

She is selfish. Compare her actions to Nesta's throughout the entirety of ACOWAR, Nesta is out there trying to help purely out of the kindness of her heart, and Elain fucks off, because she doesn't want to.

She lets everyone baby her, she packs Nesta's things and doesn't utter a single word when the IC locks her up, even though Nesta would have taken a knife to Rhysand's throat if he dared do the same to Elain.

And its not that she feels threatened by the IC, and this evident for when she cries and says 'Nesta isn't trying' and allows herself to their manipulative device to force Nesta into scrying.

Elain is not stupid, that's quite obvious. She's shown herself to be observant and intelligent, so I doubt she was unaware of the NC using her. She knew, and she actively allows it.

I use the wording 'she lets', because I think for Elain. Instead of having the same rhetoric of her being a defenseless child who cannot think for herself, she actively has to work against bad habits and built in tendencies.

She clearly WANTS to express an image of perfection and kindness, even though her natural inclination seems to skew to the negative.

To have a perfect character is to not have a character at all. There's no growth or journey, and for Elain, she'll always side with the person that's most likely to give her the outcome she wants the most.

She wants to be left alone? She lets the IC baby her.

She wants nothing to do with Lucien? She sticks by Feyre (who routinely sees her and Azriel as a better couple.)

Now I don't think she is a mastermind or actively working for an evil cause, I just think she is naturally drawn to selfish desires even at the expense of others.

And this would make her so so interesting. She's not perfect, the projection of her image is by design, it's not the 'real' Elain, she's a bit shitty. It makes her more *human*, it makes her less of a cardboard cut out. Now we have actually have a path of growth laid out. It involves deciding between continuing down a line of chasing fleeting happiness and materialistic desires drawn out but the former future she had promised as a human, or actively working towards being the person she truly aspires to be. That truly kind and gentle soul.

Elain has a very empty character, and I will tell you that it was a choice to make her like that. It makes her so much easier for SJM to write, because she is malleable, SJM can turn her into anything she pleases later on. So, my arguing that Elain is inherently selfish is mute because despite the actual actions of Elain's character, SJM will not reflect on them as foreshadowing, Elain is like this because making her do anything of value would deprive SJM of her writing freedom while writing her. Because she would actually have to stick to whats already been set up, even a little.

What I actually think will happen, is Elain will be Rhysand 2.0

She'll do things that are inherently bad, but get away with them because 'shes perfect and can do no wrong.' Thats how SJM writes, and she'll either make Lucien a shitty person along with it, or make Lucien Elain's bitch who will simply become an empty character to slap beside Elain.

Anyway, regardless of potential, Elain will be like the rest of the lot. She has to be to fit in with SJM's brand.

This is not an incredibly deep dive into my thoughts on Elain. I have a lot more, but this is a pretty good generalization of them all. If SJM is not a coward, she will make Elain selfish and have her recognize that.

She lets everyone baby her

I would also like to reinforce, I use the word 'lets' here because Elain does not fight against the constant infantalisation even though it's clear as day, because she wants the image of being perfect. And I can go on and on about how thats probably the result of her childhood and being the middle sibling often comes with trying to get the attention of your parental figure when usually it will be cast on the eldest and youngest. But y'all ask if you want that deep dive.

Kaaaaaay bye

[carriesthewind]

I can't stop thinking about the notes on this rage-bait post about To Kill a Mockingbird.

Some of it is the sheer number of people falling for the bait and believing that the school district in question banned the novel:

But there's also this...tone to so many of the notes that I find fascinating. And I think two sets of comments illustrate why:

Every time I look at these tags I feel like there is something more to unpack. If I am being kind of flip, I can roll my eyes at someone "sigh[ing] at the lack of reading comprehension" while falling for outrage bait.

But more seriously, I feel like this comment is completely right about needing to be uncomfortable and leave sterile environments in order to grown and change...but that comment exists in the context of the writer being so deeply uncomfortable at the mere idea that an over 60 year old book will no longer be taught to some children that they completely fail to interrogate the underlying story. There's a failure to take the next step. It's possible the writer was uncomfortable when they first read the novel, but to quote a tag I didn't capture here, it's "one of [their] favorite books." The book doesn't make *them* uncomfortable at all. The writer is not willing to interrogate that the school district might have had good reasons for switching the book out of the curriculum. Instead, they assume that the reasons are because "people don't understand" the book - the writer "see[s] what they look for."

I love To Kill a Mockingbird. (Hell, I'm one of those white future-public defenders who read the book and saw the movie and watched Atticus with my soul in my throat and, while I was not directly inspired by him, he resonated with a deep part of me.) It would be an uphill debate to convince me to remove it from a teaching curriculum - but then again, I'm not in charge of any teaching curriculum and have zero relevant expertise. I've read now a number of different articles and reactions to this incident, and the reactions rarely have anything to do with the reality of what decisions were made and why. You have to jump through numerous links to find what appears to be the original parent complaint:

Yolanda Williams said she found out that students were saying the N-word and laughing in the classroom, and it was offensive. “Students were laughing out loud at the teacher’s response. That’s unacceptable to me,” she told the board. “Is there not a better way to teach about that era and the horrors of that era, other than having kids laughing in class when the N-word is said? It should not be required reading for all students. My child shouldn’t have to sit in that class like that.” “It’s not a conducive environment,” Yolanda Williams said. “It’s not just the book, but supplemental material that had the N-word.

(How much do we value, how do we weigh, one way of learning about the history of racism, against the pain of a black child? Whose comfort are we willing to sacrifice, and for what?)

The second comment I come back to is much shorter, but I feel like it's where everything fell in to place for me:

Were the people made uncomfortable by the book white people? How many of them? I don't know for sure - although I know at least one of the parents, as quoted above, was black - and neither do any of the commenters.

Why do we read "people" and see "white people?" And in a way, I'm asking a rhetorical question - because of course we do, because the tweet is set up that day. And, even more so, of course we do - because the people the book is for are white people.

To go back to the previous comment, the one I can't stop unpacking: the writer quotes a famous line from the book, "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."

And yes, I love this quote.

But.

But.

To Kill a Mockingbird was written by Harper Lee, a white woman.

The narrator of the book is Scout, a white child.

The hero of the book is Atticus, her white father.

The embodiment of the theme, the person whose skin Scout tries to step into, is Boo Radley, another white man.

Do you remember, the man who was murdered? Do you see him in that picture at the top of the post? How long does it take you to remember his name?

When do we step into his skin? When do we walk around with his perspective?

I love To Kill a Mockingbird. But if a school district wanted to teach a book to embody this quote, aren't there so many better ones?

Another commenter on the post appears to have actual lived experience with this book being removed from the teaching curriculum.

[itsohh]

Mortal Kombat 1 Intros

A/N: I always wanted to do some of these, this is sort of the 1.5 chapter from my fic, Electra Heart. You can still read without it but the idea is that your a 'secret' popstar to your now partner Johnny. This is you out of costume and set post game epilogue.

Fighters: Johnny Cage, Kenshi Takahashi, Liu Kang, Mileena, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Shang Tsung, Nitara, Ashrah

Warnings: Hint of something suggestive (if you squint)

Electra Heart

Johnny Cage

Johnny: You know after this we should run a bath, help relax your muscles.

You: I'd bet you'd like that. Johnny: Trust me I have this massive bathtub in the ensuite that you're going to love. Promise to show it to you after we’re done here.

-

You: Johnny it's really fine if your busy you didn't need to cancel your plans-

Johnny: Hey if my girl’s feeling down there's nothing in all the realms that can stop me from trying to cheer her up. Let's get you destressed babe.

-

Johnny: God damn your hot when you fight. Have I told you that before?

You: Only every time we spare.

-

You: Where do you get all your glasses?

Johnny: Come on, babe, a magician never reveals his secrets.

-

Johnny: Still thinking about that thing you did with your-

You: -Johnny. We have an audience.

-

Kenshi Takahashi

Kenshi: Johnny makes you happy, even I can see that.

You: I feel weird when you make blind jokes and they say I spend too much time around him.

-

You: Johnny really appreciates you, you know that? You’re like a brother to him now.

Kenshin: If he appreciates anyone it's you.

You: That's not the same.

-

You: So how's it feel to be a secret agent in your black fancy suit?

Kenshi: Different, but good.

-

Kenshi: Why Johnny?

You: I like a man that can make me laugh.

-

You: So what was your plan if you went to the tournament and then never got Sento?

Kenshi: Originally I figured I could steal while he slept.

You: How did that work out for you?

Kenshi: He's surprisingly very aware even when asleep.

-

Liu Kang

You: Man, I hate fighting you.

Liu Kang: Why's that?

You: Feel like I'm fighting my mum. It's weird that you're the creator of all things.

-

Liu Kang: Is there any way I could convince you to bring your all against Johnny? You holding back is only limiting both your skills.

You: Sorry Liu Kang that's not happening any time soon.

-

You: I kinda miss the academy. It was so peaceful.

Liu Kang: You’re welcome back anytime.

You: Think my manager would kill me.

-

You: If we’re just split in a timeline does that mean we're less than people? Am I just a carbon copy of the original?

Liu Kang: No. Multiple versions of you there may be but all have equal value and all are worthy of life.

-

You: How come you didn't contact Titan me? Surely I would help no?

Liu Kang: I summoned you as a request for help but you did not respond.

-

Mileena

You: So how come you’re so…you… now but when we were in the lab you weren't?

Mileena: The bloodlust overcame me. I am in control now.

-

You: What you have done for those with tarkat is incredibly honourable- no- kind. Not everyone would offer such support. I know you don't do it for praise but I can't help but respect you so much for it. 

Mileena: People with tarkat are people too and deserve to be treated with respect.

-

You: Not to sound like Johnny but you really are stunning Mileena. Nothing like a beautiful, smart and empathic leader.

Mileena: Not many would genuinly say that while I look like this. Thank you.

-

Mileena: I'm surprised you’re not Earth's champion, you fight well.

You: I'm already famous in Earthrealm, I don't want to be famous in Outworld as well.

-

You: I'm sorry for your mother's loss, I didn't know her for long but I could tell she was an outstanding woman and a great mother. Evidence is you and Kitana.

Mileena: She had her flaws and I intend to improve on what she started.

-

Scorpion

You: Do you mind not using the uh rope thingy against me? I'd prefer not to have rope burns.

Scorpion: I never leave permanent marks from sparring but so be it, I can beat you without it.

You: ...Yay.

-

You: Was Bi-Han always like this?

Scorpion: He was competitive and ambitious but I could never fathom him betraying us.

-

Scorpion: You are surprisingly like Johnny, originally you hid your playful manner well.

You: Uh yeah we were in a professional setting, we aren't now.

-

You: Soooo how's the Shirai Ryu?

Scorpion: Growing stronger every day. Tomas was right to initiate Hanzo.

-

You: Got to say, not a lot of people rock yellow well so kudos to you.

Scorpion: Focus.

-

Sub-Zero

You: You know if you really wanted to show your power and defend Earthrealm you could start by refreezing the ice caps.

Sub-zero: Your mockery ends when I tear your tongue from your throat.

You: So violent.

-

You: I have to admit if you weren’t so…you…then you would be a good-looking dude.

Sub-zero: My appearance matters not, you will be dead before you lay eyes on me.

-

You: You’re one ice cold hearted bastard you know that? I do not envy your lonely life.

Sub-zero: You won’t have a life to envy.

-

You: Does it hurt? Knowing that Tomas is a more honourable man, more of a brother than you could ever dream to be?

Sub-zero: That matters not when you have this power.

-

You: Hey, it's the spineless prick.

Sub-zero: It will be you without a spine.

-

Shang Tsung

You: Ugh, it must be exhausting scheming up so many plans. I barely know what I want myself to do let alone other people.

Shang Tsung: Well, some people were made to lead others to follow. It seems you are a latter sheep.

-

You: I'm not going to bother and try to get you to see empathy it's a waste of time for a man without emotions.

Shang Tsung: I assure you I have emotions, one with be glee when I win this fight.

-

You: Yellow so isn't your colour.

Shang Tsung: You can lie to yourself but don't lie to me.

-

Shang Tsung: Nightingale, I would say it's a pleasure but I think we’re past that.

You: Ah fuck, Outworld knowing my stage name is the last thing I need right now.

Shang Tsung: Not Outworld, just me. I do my research and you're an interesting woman to learn about.

-

You: Again with the smug-looking smirk? Maybe you should contract tarkat, perhaps your smile then would be pretty.

Shang Tsung: You think I would be so reckless to contract tarkat? Perhaps you’re less intelligent than I gave you credit for.

-

Nitara

You: This victim complex you lot wear is kinda pathetic honestly.

Nitara: Perhaps you would understand did your race was starving.

You: It's called sustainability, perhaps you should look it up.

-

You: Maybe you should evolve to feed on each other. Feel like this would be a win-win for everyone.

Nitara: We won't need to when I take you.

-

You: Honestly killing when you feed? Rookie mistake should have caught and released.

Nitara: Easier said in retrospect.

-

You: I read up on Vaeternus's history. You did this to yourselves, if a race can't survive without damning another then they shouldn't exist.

Nitara: I will feed Vaeternus no matter the cost.

-

You: Bleh bleh I vant to suck your dick- hahaha. Sorry, I can't take you lot seriously. Like seriously vampires?

Nitara: You mock us but you underestimate our power.

-

Ashrah

You: How are you finding Earthrelm?

Ashrah: It's more incredible than I ever could have dreamed of.

You: If you ever find yourself in LA. Come visit, my home’s always open to you and your sister.

-

You: I'm not one for serious talk but you chose to follow a better path when you saw a possibility. You turned your back on everything I know which is more than I can say about many humans. You the furthest thing from a demon that I've met.

Ashrah: I would say you're flattering me but I can see it in your eyes you mean it.

-

Ashrah: Earthrelm is so bright. So full of life, I'm proud to call it my home.

You: And we're proud to call you one of our defenders.

-

You: When you have time free I'd love to show you all that Earthrelm has to offer.

Ashrah: I'd love my sister to experience that as well.

You: Only if you’re cool if Johnny tags along. He'll definitely want to when he catches wind of our plans.

Ashrah: I can agree to that.

-

Ashrah: It's strange. Ever since Johnny released his ‘film’ people have been approaching me on the odd occasion about a ‘cosplay'.

You: Yeah, you might have to change up your look if it gets annoying.

Ashrah: I don't mind it, it's nice to have such happiness and excitement from strangers.

[writingquestionsanswered]

How Much World Building is Too Much?

Anonymous asked: This question is on behalf of my cousin who came to me for advice. When he has an idea, he writes the most detailed worldbuilding EVER, designs the characters and has a general idea of how the story will go, but then when he starts writing he does maybe 2 chapters and it dies. I, on the other hand, do ZERO worldbuilding ahead of time (I don't need much) and end up finishing 80% of what I start out to write. How do you know how much worldbuilding is enough? How do you keep from spending so much time planning that by the time you get to writing, you don't know where you're going with the actual story? I want to help him but our styles are so different, I don't know where to start.💔

(Ask edited for length...)

I identify with your cousin a lot, because this is often how my stories go. I'm first inspired by a place, or the idea of a place, and everything sort of grows out from there. In my early days, I would also pour everything into world building and character creation, only to find myself falling flat with the story. And a big part of that, I learned, was that I didn't really understand how stories worked. It was easy to build a world and set up characters, but since I didn't understand story structure, I didn't understand how to flesh out the nugget of a story idea I had to go with that setting.

So, one thing you might do is try to get a feel for where your cousin is in that respect. You can start by asking pointed questions about the potential plot, and if he doesn't have answers already, it will help guide him in that direction. Some questions I would ask:

1 - Who is your protagonist? What is their "normal world" life like before things are turned upside down with the inciting incident?

2 - Who and what is important to your protagonist? (Stakes)

3 - What past experiences have led to them being who they are now?

4 - What needs to change about your protagonist's life, beliefs, or values?

5 - What happens to turn your protagonist's world upside down? (Inciting incident) Who (or what) causes this to happen? (Antagonistic force)

6 - How does this affect your protagonist specifically, and what goal do they decide to pursue in order to resolve the problem?

7 - What steps does your protagonist plan to take in order to reach their goal? What knowledge, skills, resources, or help must they acquire in order to achieve their goal?

8 - What obstacles does the antagonistic force create that the protagonist must overcome on their way to the goal?

9 - How do the events of the story help to change your protagonist's life circumstances, beliefs, or values for better or worse? How will they change by the end of the story?

10 - How does your protagonist face off against the antagonistic force, attempting to defeat them once and for all in order to reach their goal? Are they successful? What is the aftermath and how is the character's world/life changed--for better or worse--as a result of these events?

If your cousin can answer these questions, they'll have a reasonably well fleshed out plot that should help carry them through the story. How little or much planning of the plot ahead of time they need is something they'll need to discover over time, but if the above isn't enough to help them get through the story, they might want to go back and flesh out the specific plot points. You can point them in the direction of my post Creating a Detailed Story Outline, which suggest several different story structure templates they can look at to help them coax out the specific plot points of their story. And, bear in mind that story structure templates do not have to be followed exactly. They're just a guide to help you flesh out the story. Many writers like to combine different elements of different plot structures as a loose guide as they write their stories.

I hope this helps!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[selene-lunette]

Fumito Ueda's interview from the 5th issue of PSM (July/August 2024)

Interview done by John Kaminari for PlayStation Magazine (Italy). I translated it to the best of my abilities.

He who transformed video games into art. "PSM" had the great opportunity to interview Fumito Ueda exclusively, after a silence that lasted many years.

There are giants (colossi) of the video gaming industry who mass-produce games merely to fill a schedule increasingly saturated with cookie-cutter products, and then there are small giants (colossi) like Fumito Ueda who, with only three games under his belt, developed for Sony Computer Entertainment, can undoubtedly be considered among the most talented and innovative game creators of all time. After leaving Japan Studio, Fumito Ueda founded the independent studio genDESIGN which, in the upcoming months, will present us with something that could rewrite the rules of video games yet again, and make our favorite hobby even more similar to a work of art of inestimable value. When we interviewed him he spoke to us about him as a gamer, as a game designer, as an artist and as a person. And he told us many anecdotes that make us understand the reason for some of his choices along his path, even painful ones. Because Fumito Ueda isn't a game designer... he is an artist who makes video games.

When did your "first contact" with video games happen? I think it occured with Block Kuzushi or Space Invaders. I remember playing both around the same time. Back then my parents ran a café and they had these two arcade video games there. However, I only remember playing them a few times.

What was your first experience in the video game industry? I was a computer graphics animator at Warp Co., Ltd.. Before that I had an experience in the creation of computer graphics at a movie company, but that was my first time working on a video game. My first experience with Warp Co., Ltd. involved the movement of the main character Laura in the CG sequence added in the 3DO version of D's Dining Table Director's Cut. However, it consisted of only a few cuts. I later became the main CG animator for Enemy Zero.

What prompted you to start working as a game designer? The reason I left Warp Co., Ltd. was due to the fact I wanted to create works that I had designed myself. I was lucky enough to be able to do this at Sony Computer Entertainment (Sce) and I was assigned the role of game designer and game director.

Did you know from the beginning that you wanted to become game designer or did you want to take up another career? When I was in college I wanted to become a contemporary artist. The reason I got into the video game industry was primarily to a earn a living. Obviously I loved video games and I was what everyone today would call an "otaku", but back then I wouldn't have thought of making it my career.

Simply put, what kind of person is Fumito Ueda? I'm someone who can't help but feel anxious if I'm not constantly creating, even if it's something small.

How did you get involved with Japan Studio? After leaving Warp Co., Ltd., I had started developing Ico as an independent production, but I was worried because I didn't have enough money. In 1996, while I was looking for a job as a freelance CG artist, I turned to Sony Computer Entertainment. At first I approached Sce with the intention of simply helping out with the CG production for their games, but I was asked if I wanted to continue developing Ico with them, no longer as an independent production but as an internal Sce project. I jumped at this opportunity and a production team was formed. Ico was completed in 2001.

How did the idea of Ico come about? The idea was to create an heroic fantasy game similar in setting to Resident Evil, which had just been released in that period and which adopted a fixed camera system. Furthermore, at the time, I wondered if it would've been possible to feature NPCs' animations (non-playable characters) using an artificial intelligence, like in Ganbare Morikawa-kun No. 2, Hello Pac-Man and Wonder Project J', which I personally liked a lot. Eventually Ico was born.

I think Shadow of the Colossus is the most pioneering game ever made. Can you tell us an anecdote about your production process? While producing the game, I imagined that the henkei collision technique would become common in future action video games. And this was precisely my strongest motivation: to reach the goal faster than anyone else.

[There's a little section explaining the henkei collision technique] What is the "henkei collision"? In Shadow of the Colossus the playable character Wander is able to cling to the bodies of gigantic bosses, which made the interaction with the colossal enemy very "intense" and required a very different method of management and control compared to other video games. In English the term could be translated to "deforming collision".

I heard that the development of The Last Guardian was long and difficult. Without giving too much away, could you tell us what happened during that time? The game development engineers wanted to create something overly sophisticated. Using those various technologies was very difficult (like Ico's hand-holding or the deforming collision from Shadow of the Colossus). I think there hasn't been much investment in the foundations that support that advanced engineering; on the contrary, they were rather neglected and the company management did not fully understand the importance of issues of this caliber.

What impact did the 2011 Fukushima tragedy have on Fumito Ueda's sensitivity as an artist? Immediately after the earthquake I couldn't help but feel a decline in power in the entertainment world... and I'm not just talking about video games. However, I felt that my mission was to continue to fulfill my role and in fact I continued to create. Regardless of the type of "unpredictable" difficulties that one may encounter in life, such as the Coronavirus for example, people adapt to the changing environment and little by little this becomes everyday life again. It is something very precious for us living beings, but also a little scary I would say.

What are your sources of inspiration outside of the video game industry? Are there any artists you particularly admire? I think there has been strong video games influences, but I'm convinced that movies, especially anime, have also greatly influenced my works. Not only by legendary Japanese animators, such as Isao Takahata, Hayao Miyazaki and Yasuo Otsuka, but also by manga and anime artists, both national and international, such as Moebius, Katsuhiro Otomo, Paul Grimault and René Laloux.

Thinking back to the games you created, I can imagine that you have a great appreciation for European art and architecture. Do you also like Italy? I actually don't have much knowledge of European architecture, but I like Italy. I also really appreciate Italian food and have been riding a Vespa for about 35 years. I went to Rome once while I was a member of Warp in 1995 and I visited yet again in 2017.

What do you think is more important to be successful in the video game industry today: money or ideas? Ideas are a means to solve most problems, not just economic ones; I'm speaking in general, not just referring to the world of video games.

What games have you enjoyed in recent years? They are not exactly new releases, but some time ago I was very engaged in Humanity and PowerWash Simulator. The first game embodies the charm of programming, while the second is a game that extracts the principle of pleasure hidden in everyday life.

[Two of his top 3 were also added]

TOP 3: Fumito Ueda's favorite places in Tōkyō 1) Tōkyō Gate Bridge - Reiwa Island 2) Tōkyō's Museum of Contemporary Art 3) Daikanyama Tsutaya Books

TOP 3: best video games of all time according to Fumito Ueda 1) Prince of Persia (1989) 2) Virtua Fighter (1993) 3) Half-Life 2 (2004)

[auncyen]

Same anon with the mira and bonnie ask, lobed your response but felt weird to just put it in w/o a question so if you don’t mind:

what do you think siffrin’s life was like before joining the party? Could be pre- or post- forgotten island. Idk to me its fascinating bc they were loved in some measure (cloak, jokingly running away bc of veggies) and are p in touch with their culture when they remember it, but at the same time siffrin’s mindset is pretty unhealthy. Like even before looping/during act 2 loops, they seemed unconcerned about serious bodily harm and death that would happen to them + just seems to have. A very strange relationship with people feeling sad instead of happy around them? Idk i just don’t think that’s from just the memory loss.

See I think kid Siffrin was pretty happy. As Isabeau notes whoever gave them the cloak and hat must have really loved them. When Siffrin recounts running away it's in a carefree way--he knew he could give his parents a scare and it'd go down as "just a prank". Basically their home life was really good. There are questions I have about the island's beliefs / values that might be troublesome, but I don't really think that sort of thing grates on a kid with a happy home life too much. (And also as a little note the only glimpse we get into the island's beliefs/values are through Siffrin and King, two individuals who cannot recall those things completely and are very traumatized, so like. Should probably take a grain of salt on how they portray the beliefs anyway.)

Post-island I admittedly read a LOT into how Siffrin finds Vaugarde's openness weird and had kept their hair dyed up until a few months pre-game.

In his experience, other countries are not as welcoming. So I imagine their teenage years were probably pretty lonely. This isn't to say other countries were completely awful--he obviously enjoyed Poteria's plays!--but they were juuust old enough where few would assume just by looking at them "uh, you're on your own, do you need help?" If they stayed long enough in a spot for people to figure out something was wrong it'd invite questions like "where are you from", "where are your parents", basically questions that'd make Siffrin's head hurt and probably lead to them cutting off the interaction if the other person doesn't walk away first because they're put off or alarmed by Siffrin's reactions. Basically, there probably WERE well-meaning attempts to help Siffrin. They backfired because people didn't know what was wrong with Siffrin (Siffrin didn't know what was wrong with Siffrin). Siffrin probably beat himself up for it when he knew the other person was trying to help and he was just too "broken". As a teenager he probably stayed longest in places where adults assumed he was a runaway that didn't want to talk about it and maybe helped him out in a more "hands-off" way--"hey, run this errand for me and I'll give you dinner and a roof for the night". Which, great! Because Siffrin finds a way to get by. But it doesn't deal with any of the emotional issues festering inside.

I also feel like, while this may be a bit dark for the fantasy setting, Siffrin probably got targeted at times for being a young traveler on their own. I mean I also headcanon that Siffrin was very good at escaping dicey situations, partially because they'd start Wish Crafting unconsciously if they were really scared, so they were never seriously harmed. But they weren't good experiences to have!

I also kind of headcanon that pre-canon with not knowing who they are like--they loved plays. But also, like. I can see them at times hurting when they think about plays, how they'd be portrayed in a play. No true name, no past, no home, no relations. At best they're the jester who mocks a King gone wrong and makes the audience laugh. At worst they're a side character killed off-stage in a tragedy, barely important enough to devote two lines to. What kind of play would have a protagonist with zero emotional stake in anything?

They try to be the jester, at least. Sometimes, when he's feeling brave enough. It tends to fizzle pretty quickly. (And then he meets someone who doubles over laughing at a bad pun.)

So yeah I feel like Siffrin pretty much mastered the art of getting by and also as in this post actually being pretty good at fighting pre-canon, but socially well. They can ask directions in at least half a dozen languages but can't be honest about how they're feeling or what's going on with them in a single blinding one. Then they meet a group that's in desperate need of another fighter and 2 of them are Vaugardians who are willing to accept Siffrin's eccentricities as just part of them and not ask questions and Odile's pragmatic enough to not rock the boat unnecessarily. I pretty much do view the group as being the first chance Siffrin remembers getting to bond with people without it going south by them wanting to know their background. Of course he loves them. Of course it doesn't really matter what happens to him, who's going to miss him?? They have homes and families and friends. They're the real heroes. He's just supporting cast.

...So yeah tl;dr pre-island vanishing I think Siffrin's life was just fine. post-island was an incredible amount of loneliness and the Universe putting his brain in a blender and idly hitting the pulse button every so often. This is not even getting into experiencing the physical side of puberty while not knowing who you are or who to ask for help, which, yikes.

[droplet-dread-cat]

Not a single moment goes by where I don't think about Sampo "volunteering" at Belobog's museum

like, listen... he has the (technically second, since he has 93 points and a random NPC has 94 but still) highest tour duration and the actual highest education value stats but absolutely zero visitor appeal

this means whenever he's uh... "helping out" (aka being forced to work by the Trailblazer) he's constantly side-eyed and sneered at and just generally avoided but when someone accidentally catches wind of how interesting his tour actually is, they can't help but stay and listen as Sampo tells them about the history of, idk, art theft linked to the paintings that are currently displayed on the wall and I feel like they don't even notice for just how long they've listened before Sampo declares the tour's end

or maybe the tours are all equally long so the tour duration stat just states how many hours in a month that character is volunteering - which I'd honestly prefer in that case, since it'd mean Sampo's basically working an entire job at the museum

it's just... aaaaah, it's such a great starting point for an AU

Museum Tourguide!Sampo AU

imagine the Trailblazer hiring both Sampo and Gepard (who btw has the second highest education value out of the non-NPC characters behind Sampo, the second highest appeal at 83 points right behind the Supreme Guardian herself who has 85, but a tour duration of 5) for the art section of the museum

first of all Gepard constantly looks like he's swallowed a lemon when he's catching sight of Sampo just casually working.

secondly, this is a great set-up. not even from a shipping perspective. there'd be an inevitable rivalry of knowledge between the two - imagine they're working five metres apart from each other and when people come to Gepard for questions (let's be real, no-one goes to Mr. Cold Feet for answers), Sampo will just shout it over the heads of the visitors and Gepard, once again, will be livid af. like it's growing into a game of who can answer the fastest and they oftentimes have disputes, since Gepard obviously only knows the official stories and not the dirty bits that Sampo can bring to light.

in any case, apart from the work dynamic with Gepard, Sampo also has to interact with Uldan, this no-nonsense gramps who was instructed by the Trailblazer to "fend off Sampo's wandering fingers" - every time Sampo tries to pickpocket someone, Uldan will play up the senile grandpa act and do a whole bit where he acts like Sampo's his actual (grand)son, making it virtually impossible for Sampo to commit any crimes within his vicinity because Uldan will just scold him super loud, like "I didn't raise you like that, young man!"

and the thing is. Sampo is good at this whole volunteer thing. he excels at it, in fact, and I feel like with every tour he guides he enjoys it more and the people, too, grow to appreciate him more the longer he works at the museum. we all know where this is headed, right? there comes a point in time where Sampo doesn't follow a lead or initiate contact with a potential client and instead heads to the museum to cover a shift. I'm definitely not saying he gives up on his ways entirely but in my mind he inevitably becomes an actual staff member. sooner or later, Uldan's going to ask him to stay permanently and I mean, come on, the angst potential? the questioning of morals and identity? the realization that he wants to work a legitimate job? come oooooon

[speeps-highway]

hiya speeps! love your mods and videos, they have fueled my sonic hyperfixations very well! anyway, in one of your older videos you briefly mentioned how sa1 having cutscenes play over top of gameplay was why characters could "make faces" in that game but not sa2. could you go into more detail as to why this is?

In SA1 the cutscenes are done like an RPGMaker event, it has a library of event-specific functions to control characters/objects etc. and forms a list of them as one big script.

Here's an example from one of Sonic's events:

Here's what a few of them do:

EV_MovePoint2: Move a character to coordinates with specified speed and acceleration. There's also a simpler, less used version called EV_MovePoint that does the same thing but at a fixed speed.

EV_SetAction: Give an object an action (Model+Animation) and textures. You can also specify the speed of the animation, whether it loops and (if another EV_SetAction is playing) how many frames to interpolate to this animation from the previous one. (Think every time Sonic moves his hands around while he says "Ah Yeah this is Happenin'", that uses it)

EV_SetFace: Give a character a list of preset facial animations to do (Each letter in the string corresponds to one) . It only works on Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Tikal - no other character has faces. (Except for Big, but the game will do an out of bounds crash since he only has 6 faces instead of 20)

EV _Wait: Pause the event thread for X frames.

Here's some others that aren't in that image:

EV_CreateObject: Creates a blank object, usually used for props by giving them an appearance with EV_SetAction.

EV_PlayPad: Plays back recorded user input, Sonic Team used this whenever they wanted Sonic to jump or do a spindash.

While this way can make everything look stiff at times, it's pretty flexible and easy to play with in a mod. It's also why the game has 8 character slots and why Eggman, Tikal and event ZERO are technically player characters.

The best part about it is that the two aren't mutually exclusive, you can call anything from an event in during gameplay and vice versa, the game does this itself a few times too, like setting a flag that keeps the hint monitors active for the Twinkle Park scene.

The faces are part of the characters themselves and they'll switch to them at any time if the relevant values are changed, so I managed to figure out how to do it in the Dreamcast version in 2017. (Funnily enough, also August).

As I said above with EV_SetFace, there's only 20 faces to hold up the entire game's dialogue with (even fewer in actuality given the ones either reserved for blinking or unused) and they seem to be focused more on expression than speaking, at least for Sonic and Knuckles, which is why a lot of people find them goofy.

There's only one situation the game uses the animations for outside cutscenes - when the player gets hurt, they'll do one of their screaming animations for a few frames. (There's also a funny issue where Sonic does it after hitting Knuckles in his boss fight)

Anyway, you can call any event animation, any face and even spawn event objects (such as Chaos event actors) whenever you want in that game. Usually the only thing they need is their textures loaded.

Here's a few things I did when I first figured out how to do it:

SA2's cutscenes are full 3D animations (like Blender) in the game's event folder, everything in them is entirely separate to the gameplay stuff, so the in-game characters have no mouths or cutscene-specific animations to play around with.

It meant they didn't need to deal with gameplay limitations (like player physics) and were easier for them to test as they have a fixed timeline rather than relying on in-game sequences to fall into place.

They also had much greater control over character expressions. The mouth and head are separated and they aren't limited to the list of 20 faces. Here's a bunch I dug out a few years ago for Amy's brow alone:

They used to be really annoying to edit (I had to use a Hex Editor) but I think the SA2 Modding community has had breakthroughs since. Still, I suck at 3D modelling so I prefer SA1's.

I decompiled all of SADX PC's event scripts a few years ago so if you want to learn exactly what they do (and change them, as it's in mod form) take a look:

[flameshadowconjuring]

I am currently rewatching and rereading Parasyte. I'm really glad that I watched the anime before I picked up the manga when I first came across the story. Otherwise, I would have enjoyed the anime a lot less. The anime, in the first episode alone, made three changes I really dislike.

The first is one that happens a lot in TV which I hate, which is where the first episode shows scenes in non-chronological order. It is just unnecessarily confusing. The original showed them in sequence and I see no reason to deviate from it. Its not like the original took too long to get to the gory stuff that grips attention.

The second is that they added an accidental boob grab. I must have excised it from my memory, because it caught me completely off guard. It adds nothing to the plot or the dynamic between the characters and just makes the show more awkward to recommend to non-weebs since it is in an early scene of the first fucking episode. I think my initial opinion of the show would have been lower if I had been introduced to it via the first episode rather than midway through.

The third is adding a 'zero to hero' plot. Shinichi in the original manga was just an ordinary dude. He wasn't scared of bugs, and he wasn't awkward around Murano. They even gave him glasses in the anime to up his Peter Parkeriness. They must have thought 'oh no, our protagonist is not a loser, he won't be relatable to our audience!'. Fuck off, that is insulting. Okay, look, I get it. They probably added it because that way there is more of a contrast between the before and after in his character arc. Put I think they missed the point. Parasyte is not a story about a loser boy becoming an awesome action hero. It is a story about an ordinary high schooler thrust into a dangerous situation, losing both his ordinary life as well as his humanity, only to regain both by the end of the story, but having grown through the trials he overcame in between. In the manga, the initial scenes with him focus on how Migi disrupts his ordinary life. Migi morphs into various things which Shinichi has to hide, including a giant Phallus while he is in a restaurant! Its pretty funny actually, and sadly missing from the anime. The manga already has the main character go through enough change (its probably the best part of the story). It didn't need more.

I don't really mind them changing the setting to contemporary modern day rather than the nineties when the original manga was written, though I do think that it is a bit unnecessary.

I do actually like the anime. The animation, music (dubstep is cool) and voice acting are all great. Well, except for that one shot of really bad CG they used for random students walking to the school.

Also, Migi is just the cutest little psychopath. I luv it. Speaking of, diversity win! The cold-blooded alien parasite, by virtue of having no apparent capacity to reproduce or interest in human values, is nonbinary! Migi and its relationship to its host Shinichi is definitely the best part of the series for me. Its a fascinating situation, where a very rational but completely amoral alien and a conscientious human have to share a body and cooperate despite their differences. What I find very endearing about Migi is that it is actually very reasonable and always wishes to work together with its host when possible. All of the evil aliens in the story are actually very cooperative in nature, which I really like. Smart villains are great.

One final remark: Its funny how my view on the body horror in the story has changed. When I first saw some scene or ad for the anime, I was convinced I would never watch a show that disgusting. When a friend of mine was watching it though, I actually really got into it, and basically watched it in spite of the gross body horror. At some point, I watched it because (but not only because) of the body horror. Tastes change, huh.

[redstringraven]

For the TMNT Ask Game!

Could you do #21, #29, and #33?

heck yeah, i can! <:D and thank you!!!

TMNT's 40th anniversary ask game!

21.) what is your favorite story arc?

i'm admittedly a major sucker for the turtles in space arc in s2 because i love triceratons--and especially traximus--if i haven't made that obvious already. i remember losing my mind as a teen when i saw a triceraton for the first time while that arc was airing, because it felt so specifically tailored to ME. i was a massive dinosaur kid, i borrowed dinosaur books from the library constantly, so now you're telling me we have talking dinosaur aliens??? i don't CARE if they're the bad guys, they're SO COOL??? did the writers do this FOR ME??? (they didn't). anyone who knows me also knows i have a tendency to latch onto secondary/minor characters (stares at the 10+ years i've spent writing for dol fma:brotherhood), so when traximus was introduced? bye. this is my favorite ally; the rest of you are great and all but i'm letting my bias win. remains true a decade later. triceratons aside, i also really appreciate it for just... opening up the world a lot more. it made it very, VERY clear that a lot more was out there than just new york. i like that.

29.) what is one headcanon that you have?

ooh, i've kind of been wanting to talk about this one 'publicly' (talked about it with jenn @plantdonutwrites in the past), but since i tend to be kind of on the shy side i usually get worried that i'll be annoying and chicken out of posting about it. >xD i'll use this as my excuse; thank you for enabling me. headcanon(s) on cursing/swearing! because for why! mikey self-proclaimed "good boy, UNLIKE RAPH". does not do a cuss. this is a headcanon shared with jenn since she writes for mikey in our rps. i do sometimes write him thinking cusses, though. such as "The damn thing could go invisible. Even if he had Donnie’s goggles on him, there’d be no body heat to track." in Pretend That I Never Left. might also internally monologue that he 'pissed something off' but won't verbally say it in those words. leo has sworn off cursing but definitely still curses sometimes. very much in line with his 1 and splinter's parenting, he considers cursing 'bad' and ergo doesn't partake in it... when he can help it. he usually has a strong mental filter running, but in times of high stress or high emotion, the filter will drop and he'll say "shit" instead of "shell" or exclaim "fuck!" without thinking. he also tends to drop the filter when alone with raph, because he knows raph won't judge him or think ill of him. also important to note he doesn't think lesser of raph for swearing; it's more of a self-monitoring/self-discipline... thing. if that makes sense. and raph knows this. they're chill. don does curse, but mostly uses it for comedic shock-value, casual moments, or as a bonding method with raph. don won't use curses in high stress or emotion moments like leo, he more does it in casual settings like playing video games or if dropping a swear will make a remark funnier because the swear was unexpected. his cursing is much more playful/humorous, or maybe kind of a way he 'bonds' with raph, like when they watch football together. i feel like he might also do it more around raph because it helps raph feel less like 'the bad kid'. since leo tends to hide or smother any cursing he does and kind of acts regretful afterward, and mikey just doesn't. raph cursing is regular vocabulary. attempts to censor himself around master splinter as a gesture of respect, but isn't always successful. fuck you.

33.) what is your favorite thing you've made for TMNT?

... kind of a toss up between Pretend That I Never Left and my enneagram series. not only did i work very, very hard on both things, but they were both contributions specifically focused on my interests. for the former: combining tmnt'03 with the world of horizon: zero dawn; and for the latter, analyzing the boys through the lens of the enneagram. PtINL gave me something to focus on during a really stressful time, and the enneagram is one of my favorite tools. i dunno. i put a lot of hours into both of those things, a lot of love, and i still enjoy looking back on them after all the time that's passed (even if it's not THAT much time). these two projects make me really happy. i'm proud of them. and i'm glad i took the time to let them exist, whether anyone else engages with them or not. i'm also very happy with how liáfsini is turning out, which is the realm that my OCs gwyn, ash and darach are from. i'm slowly fleshing it out, but seeing it become something real with a grounded culture, history, magic system, and ecosystem has been very exciting and satisfying. i'm really proud of it!!